16:51Aprilynne Alter · Essay
Why No One Makes "Original" Videos Anymore
A YouTube strategist admits that the framework she teaches for chasing overperforming videos is quietly making every channel sound the same.
July 25thThe argument in one line.
A thumbnail only works when its main character, which is not automatically the creator's own face, represents what the video is actually about, and every other element exists to support that one choice.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A YouTube creator with an existing channel who keeps sensing their thumbnails look 'off' but can't name why.
- Someone running a talking-head channel who defaults to using their own face as the thumbnail's main character out of habit, not strategy.
- A creator who tests thumbnail colors and fonts instead of testing a genuinely different concept.
SKIP IF…
- You haven't published a video yet and have no existing thumbnails to diagnose.
- You're looking for a software tutorial on Photoshop or Canva rather than a design-thinking framework.
The full version, fast.
Three subscribers sent in thumbnails that felt almost right but not quite, and the fix is never a font or color tweak: it's picking the wrong main character. The video teaches a repeatable process: identify what the video is about and why someone should click, choose a main character that embodies that answer, add supporting characters and text without letting them compete for attention, and layer in interest generators like emotion, tension, or familiarity when the main character alone can't carry the click. Each of the three redesigns gets rebuilt into a real image using the sponsor tool 1of10, with an explicit reminder that a thumbnail's job (stop the scroll) is different from an intro's job (deliver on the topic).
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00:00 – 00:36
01 · Intro: thumbnail blindness
States the premise: three real subscriber thumbnails feel almost right but not quite, and the video diagnoses each one live.
00:36 – 03:44
02 · Thumbnail #1: finding the main character
Breaks down Phantom's mermaid-safety thumbnail, explains why her talking-head face is the wrong main character, and rebuilds the concept around a mermaid image instead.
03:44 – 06:05
03 · Thumbnail #1: title, text, and the curiosity gap
Sets hard rules for thumbnail text, then rewrites the video's title to open a stronger curiosity gap before adding supporting text.
06:05 – 11:16
04 · Thumbnail #2: concept over color
Redesigns Clarissa's workout thumbnail, argues her instinct to chase new concepts instead of color variations was right, and builds a second concept around tension, emotion, and familiarity.
11:16 – 13:22
05 · Thumbnail #2: building it with 1of10
Turns the mockup into a real thumbnail inside the sponsor tool 1of10, picks a red shirt over the on-brand blue one, and explains why a thumbnail's job differs from an intro's job.
13:22 – 17:46
06 · Thumbnail #3: contents and composition
Diagnoses Misha's diagram-style thumbnail by cutting five competing elements down to three and fixing the size hierarchy between her face and the diagram.
17:46 – 18:31
07 · Outro
Thanks the three creators who submitted thumbnails, plugs the submission form and the 1of10 sponsor link, and closes out.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- When a thumbnail feels like it's lacking something, the instinct to add more elements is usually wrong; the fix is almost always to clarify the main character instead.
- A talking-head face is not automatically the correct main character for a thumbnail, even on a talking-head channel; it should only lead if it best represents the video's subject.
- Thumbnail text has hard limits: five words or fewer, two lines max, and every word readable in a single glance, or it becomes clutter instead of clarity.
- A weak title creates a weak thumbnail, because the title sets the curiosity gap the image and text have to exploit.
- People are biologically wired to notice faces, which is why a straight-on shot and a side-profile shot can both work as a main character, for different reasons.
- Spending time testing color and font variations is weaker than spending that same time testing at least one fundamentally different concept for the same thumbnail.
- A smaller creator without an established audience can't rely on their own face alone to generate interest; it needs a second driver like emotion or tension layered on.
- An expression only reads as natural in a thumbnail when the frame gives the subject something concrete to react to, not when it's staged in isolation.
- A thumbnail's job is to stop the scroll; an intro's job is to deliver on the topic promised, so the two don't need to match stylistically.
- Diagram-style thumbnails break down to three elements only: the creator, one diagram, and one line of supporting text; a fourth element slows the read past a single glance.
- Without a clear size hierarchy between a creator and a diagram in a thumbnail, the two compete for attention instead of directing the eye in order.
- The real benchmark for a working thumbnail is being fully understood in under two seconds.
Every Thumbnail Fix Starts With One Decision
THUMBNAIL DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM
A thumbnail only fixes itself once you can name its main character, because every other decision, from supporting elements to text to composition, follows from that one choice.
02Thumbnail #1: finding the main character
- Before adding anything to a thumbnail that feels off, identify its main character: the single element that should draw the eye first.
- A talking-head face isn't automatically the right main character; it should only lead if it's the best representation of the video's actual subject.
- Decide what the video is about and why someone should click, then pick the main character that embodies that answer, not just what's easiest to photograph.
03Thumbnail #1: title, text, and the curiosity gap
- Thumbnail text works only inside hard limits: five words or fewer, no more than two lines, and every word readable in a single glance.
- A weak title creates a weak curiosity gap; reframing a safety-focused title into a mistakes-focused one gives the thumbnail text something sharper to open.
- Supporting text should complement the gap the title opens, built around either fear of a mistake or desire for insider information, not generic hype.
04Thumbnail #2: concept over color
- Testing a handful of color or font variations is weaker than testing one genuinely different concept; concept-level variation is where real improvement lives.
- A face alone generates little interest for a small creator with no existing audience; it needs a second interest generator layered on, like emotion or tension.
- An exaggerated expression only reads as natural when the frame gives the subject something concrete to react to, like a mid-action, straining pose.
05Thumbnail #2: building it with 1of10
- A real location made a staged workout photo feel more immersive and the implied tension more believable than a plain studio shot would.
- A thumbnail's job is to stop the scroll; an intro's job is to deliver on what was promised, so outfit or prop choices can diverge between the two.
- Walking into a shoot already knowing the exact framing, angle, expression, and outfit beats taking a batch of photos and hoping one works.
06Thumbnail #3: contents and composition
- A diagram-style thumbnail works with three elements only: the creator, one diagram, and one line of supporting text; a fourth element breaks the single-glance read.
- Without a clear size hierarchy between the creator and the diagram, the two compete for attention instead of guiding the eye in order.
- The target is a thumbnail understood in under two seconds; if the eye has to hop between more than three points, it's already too slow.
Terms worth knowing.
- Main character (thumbnail)
- The single element in a thumbnail that best represents what the video is about and gives someone a reason to click, not necessarily the creator's own face.
- Supporting character
- An element added after the main character to add context, curiosity, or emotion, without competing with the main character for attention.
- Interest generator
- A visual tool, such as emotion, tension, familiarity, or immersion, that gives a thumbnail its own pull beyond a creator's existing audience.
- Curiosity gap
- The space between what a title and thumbnail promise and what they withhold, which creates the urge to click and find out more.
- Diagram-style thumbnail
- A thumbnail format built from a creator photo plus an informational graphic, like a cycle or list, used to position a creator as a teacher rather than an influencer.
Things they pointed at.
00:30channelThe Magic Crafter (Phantom)
06:17channelClarissa
10:31channelRyan Trahan
13:29channelMisha
Lines you could clip.
01:14
“When a thumbnail feels like it's lacking something, most of us default to adding things. But great design is actually about getting the main point across as quickly as possible.”
08:55
“An expression needs something to react to.”
12:22
“The red shirt helps stop the scroll, but no one's clicking for the shirt. They're clicking for the video topic.”
15:00
“In under two seconds, the entire thumbnail is seen and understood.”
Word for word.
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metaphor
If your thumbnails feel off and you just can't figure out why, you have . And today, we're curing it. We're taking a look at real thumbnails sent to you by subscribers where there's a lot of good stuff going on, but it just doesn't feel finished.
Or it's lacking something. Or something just doesn't feel right. We're going to cover a variety of things that are stumping you.
From creating more interest and choosing the right thumbnail text, to evoking more emotion, picking the right composition, and a whole lot more. So grab your beverage of choice and let's fix some thumbnails. By the way, this beverage is a Red Bull.
Yes, we have Red Bull in here. It is a performative cup of tea.
The first thumbnail we have is one submitted by a channel called The Magic Crafter, aka Phantom. Phantom is a professional mermaid, which is so cool. And she primarily makes vlogs and short films about mermaiding.
But the particular thumbnail she submitted is for a rare educational video on her channel titled Five Important Mermaiding Tips for the Safety and Betterment of Everyone. About her thumbnail, she writes, I don't know. Something is just off about it.
I think it's the text. It's just lacking something. Don't worry, Phantom.
We're here to help. So when it comes to diagnosing a thumbnail like this, I always like to start with identifying the main character, or the focal point of the thumbnail. Because when a thumbnail feels like it's lacking something, most of us default to adding things.
But great design is actually about getting the main point across as quickly as possible, which is done by directing attention toward the main character. In this case, the main character is Phantom herself. She's the largest element in the frame, she's occupying the prime real estate in the center of the thumbnail, and her dark hair and makeup stand out from the lighter pastels in the rest of the thumbnail.
All those choices draw our attention and lead us to look at her first. But is Phantom's talking head the best choice for the main character of this thumbnail? No.
And that's why this thumbnail feels off. Fantom probably chose this image to visually differentiate this video from the rest of her catalog to make it clear that it's an educational video instead of her typical vlog or short film. But just because you're making a talking head video doesn't mean that your talking head needs to be the main character of your thumbnail.
Instead, the main character should be the element that best represents what the video is about and the reason why someone should click on it. So let's start there. What is this video about and why should someone click on it?
Well, at its core, this is a video about mermaiding, and people should click on it if they're interested in getting into mermaiding themselves. So how can we translate that into a main character? Well, it's a video about mermaiding, so let's make the main character a mermaid.
And because it's for people who aspire to be mermaids, let's choose a picture that evokes all the whimsy and magic that's typically associated with that aspiration. Phantom mentioned that she has to work from screenshots, because she's unable to get photos usually, so that's a constraint that we have to work with. But luckily, she has a ton of gorgeous shots from her previous videos to choose from.
These were a couple that I pulled. One does a better job highlighting her face, and the other does a better job highlighting the mermaid tail. Faces work well in thumbnails because we are biologically wired to pay attention to them, but the side profile highlights the novelty of the mermaid tail, which also naturally draws attention.
They're both solid options, and they both evoke the same feeling of whimsy, so I'd A -B test them. Once we have our main character, it's time to add supporting characters. Supporting characters, like the name suggests, help support the main character.
character, usually by adding context, curiosity, or emotion. In this case, because the main character and environment are already so visually striking by themselves, I don't want to add too many supporting characters that might take attention away from them. But to help differentiate this video from her vlogs and short films, and to help generate some more curiosity, we're going to add some thumbnail text.
Now, thumbnail text can get tricky, because if it's used incorrectly, it'll only add clutter. So if you do choose to use thumbnail text, some best practices to follow are use five words or fewer, use no more than two lines, make sure you can read and fully understand each word in a single glance, and complement the curiosity gap by your title.
And on that note, I know that this is a thumbnail video, but I actually do want to change the title here as well. Currently, this video is framed around safety tips. So the curiosity is primarily driven by how can I do this more safely?
But while safety is definitely important, unfortunately, most people think of it as the boring stuff that you have to sit through before you can get to the fun stuff. Phantom's intro, though, frames the video in a much more compelling way, saying that she has five pieces of advice that are really important and that you need to consider if you're looking to get into marmating.
So if we bring that framing into our title, we can consider options like five things I wish I knew before I started mermaiding, the five biggest mistakes bigot or mermaids make, and watch this video before you start mermaiding. Now, instead of the curiosity gap being, how can I do this more safely? It's what do I need to know in order to get started?
Or am I making any of these mistakes, which are much stronger? We can then supplement those titles with thumbnail text that helps evoke either the fear of doing something wrong or the desire. for insider information.
Based on the specific advice that Phantom shares in her video, I came up with don't wear this, don't swim here, wrong tail, and five unspoken rules. These are my own favorite title main character supporting text combinations, but remember that there is never just one right answer. Even people who have been doing this at the highest level for years still test their thumbnails because they know that their intuition isn't always right.
But hopefully these ideas are enough to inspire you or inspire anyone else who's dealing with similar struggles in their thumbnails to get unstuck and to make some variations that you feel more confident in. Just identify your main character. Make sure it's tied to the reason why someone would click on your video and come up with thumbnail text that complements the curiosity gap opened by your title.
Good luck. You got this.
All right, this next thumbnail is one that I had a lot of fun with, submitted by Clarissa. Clarissa makes awesome videos about figuring out her late 20s, and her videos are seriously underrated. And the thumbnail she submitted is especially exciting because it's for a video that became a breakout video on her channel.
Everyone say congratulations Clarissa in the comments because getting your first breakout video is absolutely incredible and absolutely worth celebrating. And I know this video is already doing well for Clarissa, but when it comes to the thumbnail, I think we can do better. When she submitted her thumbnail, Clarissa had three main bothers.
Bother one, I'm always doubtful of my facial expression in the thumbnail. Should it be smiling or exaggerated to pique interest, which feels unnatural to me. Bother two, I spent too much time changing the colors of the thumbnail's background and not creating other combinations and variations of the thumbnail.
Bother three, I wish I had taken the thumbnail picture in the same shirt as my first frame in the video for continuity purposes. With those notes in mind, let's fix. That Thumbnail!
Okay, cool. I want to start with Clarissa's second bother, which is that she spent too much time trying out different background colors instead of creating other variations. And to that, I'd say that her instinct is spot on.
You see, when we put together different thumbnail variations, it's easy to just focus on the design variations, like changing the positioning, the font, and the colors. And while those design details are important, if you're going to spend the time to come up with different thumbnail variations, you should aim for at least one concept -level alternative as well.
Clarissa's original concept is primarily powered by familiarity. Our brains are naturally drawn to what we're familiar with, so anyone who's already interested in the pictured fitness YouTubers might also be interested in Clarice's videos.
It's a good start, and familiarity bias is quite powerful, but there's a problem. The primary interest drivers are all supporting characters. Clarice herself is the main character, the focal point of the thumbnail, but she's not doing anything to generate interest herself.
Large YouTubers can get away with it because they're well -known enough to leverage familiarity by themselves. But if you're a smaller YouTuber who hasn't yet made a name for yourself, it's hard to generate interest with your face alone.
Now, that doesn't mean that you can't be the main character of your thumbnails. You absolutely can. But if you choose to do so, it's worth incorporating an additional interest generator.
One of the most common ways to do so is through emotion. We are wired to notice displays of emotion regardless of who's displaying them. Because an emotional reaction in others can signal a threat or opportunity we haven't detected ourselves yet.
But Clarissa mentioned that using an exaggerated expression in her thumbnail felt unnatural to her. And there's actually a reason for that. An expression needs something to react to.
And because in our current thumbnail, she's just standing there by herself, the expression would be unwarranted. So let's create a new concept, one that will allow us to incorporate interest generators beyond just the familiarity of supporting characters. This is a video about testing workouts.
So let's make the main character Clarissa in the middle of attempting a difficult exercise. Because we're capturing her mid -action, we create tension. And that tension evokes questions like, is she able to do it?
Does it work? what happens next. Each question generates interest, and the action itself gives something Clarissa to react to, so a strained or concerning expression doesn't feel out of place.
And now that we have a main character capable of generating interest all on her own, we can build the rest of the thumbnail around her, incorporating more interest generators as we go. For the background, we can use her actual living room. so we feel more immersed in the moment and the tension feels more real.
When it comes to supporting characters, I like Clarissa's initial instinct to leverage familiarity. But instead of all four YouTubers, let's pick the most well -known one and feature her on the TV, so familiarity can support our main character instead of competing with her. We can also add in some relatability with some standard household clutter that'll feel familiar to anyone who's ever worked out in their living room before.
And finally, we'll add some thumbnails text that will help emphasize just how difficult the workout is to further that sense of tension. I know that top YouTuber Ryan Trahan uses a Yelp review element to help add stakes to his challenge videos, so I figured we could do something similar here with a YouTube comment.
So I found a comment under one of Mad Fit's videos that said, I'm fighting for my life, and I used the username to help further identify Mad Fit in case a TV image isn't recognizable enough. Now we have an entire thumbnail concept rooted in tension, familiarity, and relatability, and help turn this concept into a real thumbnail.
I'm going to use 1of10, who also happens to be the sponsor of this video. Because while my mockup has all of the pieces, I want to see what it looks like when they're all integrated together properly and tweak any details I need to make it more clickable. So I uploaded my mockup as a sketch into 1of10.
And I gave it a few notes on elements that I wanted fixed, like making sure Clarissa's face is fully visible and the mad fit screenshot is properly fitted into the TV. One of 10 also lets me link to Clarissa's channel itself, which helps the software identify her facial features and style for better quality mock -ups. From there, I can click into any variation and keep adjusting.
I decided to move the positioning of the towel and I removed the yellow mat since it was taking too much attention away from everything else. And this is the stage where we can play with the small design tools. tweaks.
I know Clarissa wanted her t -shirt to match the one that she wears in her intro. That's something we can easily fix in 1 of 10. But while the light blue color is better than the white and gray stripes of the original, there's a color that's even better.
Red. It pops against the blue mat in lighter tones everywhere else and helps pull our attention directly towards the main character. Yes, it doesn't match the outfit in the intro, but it doesn't have to because your thumbnail and your intro have two very different jobs.
Your thumbnail's job is to and generate interest, while your intro's job is to validate that the viewer will get what they clicked for. The red shirt helps stop the scroll, but no one's clicking for the shirt. They're clicking for the video topic.
So as long as your intro delivers on the topic promised by your video's packaging, in your thumbnail, you can wear whatever is the most clickable. Got it? Good.
After some tweaks, here is the final thumbnail I landed on. And I know from Clarice's video that she can shoot from this exact angle, and she has this exact outfit, so she has everything she needs to recreate this thumbnail. And that's part of the reason why I like software like 1 of 10 so much.
Because there's a huge difference between walking into a shoot already knowing what framing, angle, expression, and outfit will make the most clickable version of your thumbnail, and just winging it, taking a bunch of photos, and hoping - that you end up with something usable. If you want to try out 1 of 10 for yourself, I have a special link that will give you a full month for just $1.
So check that out in the video description below. But that's how I'd redesign this thumbnail. I hope you like it, Clarissa, and congratulations again on your breakout video.
Our next thumbnail is one submitted by Misha, who has a beauty channel where she shares makeup tutorials. The thumbnail she submitted is for a video titled, The Only Routine Beginners Need, Six Simple Steps. And she included some very familiar looking inspo thumbnails.
About her thumbnail, Misha writes, I really want my videos to position me as a teacher who teaches systems and frameworks, not as a makeup influencer. Got it. I want the diagram to stand out, but I don't think it stands out enough.
And I'm just not sure if it's eye -catching enough. We can definitely work with that. Looking at her thumbnail, I can absolutely see how her references inspired it.
She has this white background, she's positioned herself in the middle, and she has a lot of relevant text and images around her. She has all the same pieces, so why does her thumbnail feel different? Well, when it comes to a diagram -style thumbnail like this, there are two important things to keep in mind.
contents, and composition. Starting with contents, most diagram -style thumbnails have three main elements. The creator, a diagram that represents the information covered within the video, and some supporting text that adds curiosity or clarity.
In Misha's thumbnail, however, we have Misha herself, this circular diagram, the text within the diagram, the text up in the top left, and another cluster of illustrations. That's five elements. And if we follow the path that our eyes go when we look at the thumbnail, problem becomes clear.
In her references, our eyes follow a similar path. It starts with the creator, glances at the diagram, and then reads the text. In under two seconds, the entire thumbnail is seen and understood.
Compare that to Misha's thumbnail. We start with her, and because she's pointing over to the right, we look at the circular diagram next. Then our eyes flip over the top left to read the biggest and brightest text on the thumbnail, then back over to the right to read the words within the diagram, before finally glancing back to the left to take in the remaining illustrations.
That's way too much to process in a single glance, so let's simplify this thumbnail down to just Misha, one main piece of supporting text, and one diagram. Now that we have our contents, let's work on the composition. If we just put Misha and the diagram side by side, like in one of her original variations, the thumbnail still feels off.
Why? Well, looking at her references again, in every single one of them, there's a clear hierarchy between the creator and the diagram. The diagram always takes up more physical space than the creator, and it's always on its own layer, either spread out behind the creator or framed within a board in front of them.
In Misha's thumbnail, however, that hierarchy doesn't exist. They take up the same amount of space, and they're directly side by side, so they compete with one another for attention. To fix it, we can either corral the diagram on a board in front of her or spread it out and put it behind her.
And between the two, I actually prefer the latter because it makes it clearer that these are different steps to take in a particular order. But as is, it's a little bit difficult to tell what each visual is supposed to represent. So I'm going to make them more obvious and increase the text size to be more legible.
Remember, a viewer should be able to identify what your video is about without straining. Let's place our updated diagram on a light gradient background to evoke the same clean, and slightly academic feeling of her references.
And with the diagram set, all that's left to add is Misha herself in the supporting text. We could just add a static image of Misha's face, but because she's the main character layered in front of the diagram, I want her doing something that instantly tells the viewer that this is a video about makeup. So let's have her applying blush with a compact mirror in her hand to help convey the topic in a single glance.
Like with Clarissa, I'm using 1 of 10 to help visualize this, so Misha can have a reference she can use when taking thumbnail shots of her own. And while we're at it, let's also add the word makeup into the title as well, to make the topic of the video even more clear. Finally, we'll add the supporting text.
One of Misha's own original options was Makeup is Easy, which I think can work. I also tried You Can't Go Wrong in Foolproof Makeup. which both supplement the title in creating a feeling of ease and simplicity.
And just like that, we have a thumbnail that clearly targets beauty consumers, that's incredibly eye -catching, that positions her as a teacher instead of an influencer. Boom. We did that.
Great job, everyone. And that's all the thumbnails that I have for you today. But if you guys like this format, I would love to make more of them.
I'll leave a link in the description below if you want to submit your own thumbnail for redesign, as well as a link to try out one of 10 for a full month for just $1. And let's also give a huge thank you to Phantom, Clarissa, and Misha for submitting their thumbnails for this video. I know it can be such a vulnerable thing to do, and you are all amazing.
Please leave them some kind comments, and I'll link all three channels in the description in case you want to check them out. But otherwise, thank you so much for watching. like and subscribe if you can keep creating and I'll see you in the next video
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Three creators sent in real thumbnails that felt almost right and couldn't say why. Aprilynne Alter diagnoses all three live, and the fix is never a font or a color: it's picking the wrong main character.
Named ideas worth stealing.
01:14model
Main Character / Supporting Character
Diagnose a thumbnail by first naming its main character (the element that best represents the video and the reason to click), then add supporting characters that add context, curiosity, or emotion without competing for attention.
Steal forany thumbnail, cover image, or poster design process
03:44list
Thumbnail Text Rules
- Use 5 words or fewer
- Use no more than 2 lines
- Make sure every word reads in a single glance
- Complement the curiosity gap opened by your title
Hard constraints for any text overlaid on a thumbnail image, framed as guardrails against clutter.
Steal forany clickable image with text overlay (thumbnails, ads, cover graphics)
08:47list
Interest Generators
- Familiarity
- Emotion
- Tension
- Immersion
- Relatability
A menu of ways to make a visual pull attention beyond an existing audience, used to layer additional interest onto a main character that can't carry the click alone.
Steal forpackaging any piece of content that needs to earn attention beyond an existing audience
14:23concept
Diagram-Style Thumbnail: Contents & Composition
Limit a diagram-style thumbnail to three elements (creator, diagram, one line of text), then give the diagram clear visual priority over the creator so the eye has an obvious order to follow.
Steal forany educational or teacher-positioning thumbnail or cover graphic
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
13:06product
“If you want to try out 1 of 10 for yourself, I have a special link that will give you a full month for just $1.”
Sponsor read woven directly into the live thumbnail build rather than a separate ad break: she finishes Clarissa's redesign on screen inside the tool before naming the price.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
AFFILIATECommission earned if you click.
Visual structure at a glance.
